more so out of interest than actually using it, i decided to learn to tie monkey fist knots.
the way i currently tie them has either one or two tails coming out of it.
now what i want to know is how do you tie one with a loop of rope coming out of it with no visible knot

I think the idea is to have a longish tail that you tie back onto the rope behind the monkey fist to make a loop with the fist at the apex, so its got weight at the end so you can throw it over something, like a bollard

>Monkeys fist are old sailing knots & have no practical purpose other than>what eduardo said.

They also make a great dog toy.
But i remember seeing a movie years back (on vhs) of some people leading on knots of rope, due to hardware being band from use in there area.. not sure if they used this knot or......... not.

Im not planing on ditching my trad rack for a bunch of knotted cords, but i am tempted to plug one into a crack above some bomer gear and take a whipper to see how it handles it.
But more than likey just keep them to dog toys and key chains

On 1/12/2011 Pat wrote:>On 30/11/2011 james wrote:>>>>Monkeys fist are old sailing knots & have no practical purpose other>than>>what eduardo said.>>What is impratical about hitting a friend in the testicles?

. >But i remember seeing a movie years back (on vhs) of some people leading>on knots of rope, due to hardware being band from use in there area.. >not sure if they used this knot or......... not.

yeah man it is in germany i think. it is a bunch of sandstone pillars i think. no trad gear allowed and no bolts. they even showed where a climb had been bolted and the bolts all got cut within a week.

On 2/12/2011 tariadamar wrote:>. >>But i remember seeing a movie years back (on vhs) of some people leading>>on knots of rope, due to hardware being band from use in there area..>>>not sure if they used this knot or......... not.>>>yeah man it is in germany i think. it is a bunch of sandstone pillars>i think. no trad gear allowed and no bolts. they even showed where a climb>had been bolted and the bolts all got cut within a week.

The place you are thinking of is an area called the Elbsandstein (Saxon Schweiz). The rock is very soft and metal equipment would make a mess of it. No chalk either. It is the birth place of free climbing and they have been at it for over 100 years in the area. The climbing is on towers. I spent 2 weeks there in October and the climbing is awesome. Fortunately I had a friend from the area who kindly dragged me up all sorts of classics. Watching someone onsight routes at 24/25 on slings and knots is extremely impressive, particularly as I was having my ar5e handed to me on a platter on most of the climbs. There are bolts (massive rings) but these are quite spaced. The ethics are different on the Czech side of the border where bolts are more prevelant, though still spaced. Did pick up a monkeys fist (they also call them babies heads) from on of the outdoor shops. When they make them they are not perfectly round and a more oval shape means more placement options.